Knowing When You’re Ready For Investors
On today’s show, Jeff speaks with Marty Schultz, angel investor, and award-winning software innovator and creator. Marty talks about how to know you are ready for investors, how to make sure you have a product that solves a pain that people are willing to pay for, and how to successfully navigate challenges and create growth.
Marty Schultz (martyschultz.net) is a mentor-speaker, angel fund investor, award-winning innovator and creator of some of the top category-leading software companies over his expansive career. In 2014, Marty started Blindfold Games, an app development company that builds accessible games for the visually impaired community. The idea for Blindfold Games was conceived serendipitously during an after-school App Design Club he started at his daughter’s middle school. To date, the company has released over 80 games that promote learning through gamification. The games are enjoyed by over 10,000 visually impaired people from 7 to 70 years old, and recently surpassed the 500,000th download. In 2014, Marty started Blindfold Games, an app development company that builds accessible games for the visually impaired community. The idea for Blindfold Games was conceived serendipitously during an after-school App Design Club he started at his daughter’s middle school. To date, the company has released over 80 games that promote learning through gamification. The games are enjoyed by over 10,000 visually impaired people from 7 to 70 years old, and recently surpassed the 500,000th download. In 2005, he founded McGruff SafeGuard, a parental control system in partnership with the National Crime Prevention Council and McGruff the Crime Dog, a talking dog loved by generations of children, designed to increase crime awareness and personal safety. The service alerted parents to online dangers for their children, such as Internet predators, sexual abuse or drug use and provided helpful advice about online parenting issues.
Throughout his career, Marty has received many awards and recognition for his work, including being named “Developer of the Year” (2015) and “Best iOS Game of the Year” (2016) at AppleVis’s Golden Apple Awards, as well as one of the “Technology Fast 500™ in the US” by Deloitte & Touche and Software magazine’s “Top 500 Software Companies in the US” (2000). A firm believer in sharing his knowledge with others, Marty mentors entrepreneurs and presents at startup and venture capital conferences on how to bootstrap and grow software startups. His presentations include topics such as “Lessons Learned from Bootstrapping Companies” and “How My Hobby – Blindfold Games – Has Brightened the Lives of Thousands.” He holds a Certificate from the Harvard Business School Owner/President Management Program and earned both B.S. and M.S. degrees from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Marty Schultz is a mentor-speaker, angel fund investor, award-winning innovator and creator of some of the top category-leading software companies over his expansive career.
In 2014, Marty started Blindfold Games, an app development company that builds accessible games for the visually impaired community. The idea for Blindfold Games was conceived serendipitously during an after-school App Design Club he started at his daughter’s middle school. To date, the company has released over 80 games that promote learning through gamification. The games are enjoyed by over 10,000 visually impaired people from 7 to 70 years old, and recently surpassed the 500,000th download.
In 2005, he founded McGruff SafeGuard, a parental control system in partnership with the National Crime Prevention Council and McGruff the Crime Dog, a talking dog loved by generations of children, designed to increase crime awareness and personal safety. The service alerted parents to online dangers for their children, such as Internet predators, sexual abuse or drug use and provided helpful advice abo…
